When Highland Park's boys basketball team put two defenders on Deerfield's Jordan Baum each time he got the ball, the Warriors' point guard found the open man. Most of the time, it was sophomore Alex Casieri.

Casieri's perfection from the three-point arc — including two in the last four minutes — along with Baum's clutch play powered Deerfield to a 41-38 victory over the Giants on Friday, Dec. 18, in Deerfield.

Casieri led Deerfield (8-1, 3-0 Central Suburban North) with 20 points, including six 3-pointers. His shooting and Baum's passing solved the riddle of the Highland Park box-and-one zone defense.

"I know if they've got two guys on Jordan, there's going to be an open spot in the zone," Casieri said. "Jordan is such a good passer, I knew he'd find me. He did, and I got the looks."

Casieri has had open shots before, but he does not always shoot, according to Deerfield coach Dan McKendrick.

"We have to tell him to shoot more," McKendrick said. "This time he got the looks, stayed calm and didn't let the rivalry game rattle him."

Both McKendrick and Baum praised Casieri's work ethic. McKendrick calls him a "gym rat." Baum said he rarely sees Casieri when he is not trying to improve his game.

"He's in the gym all the time even if we're not practicing," Baum said. "He's always shooting and he's always making them. Tonight he found the opportunities, took the shots and made them."

Michael Schmidt / Pioneer Press

Deerfield's Alex Casieri (left) shoots from three-point range as he is being defended by Highland Park's Ziv Tal on Dec. 18.

Despite Casieri's hot hand, the Warriors trailed Highland Park (2-5, 0-3) 34-26 with 3:50 left in the fourth quarter and Baum on the bench with four fouls. Casieri eventually tied the game at 36-36 with his final trey with 1:04 left.

Then it was the Baum show. He was scoreless for the first 31 minutes, but McKendrick put the ball in Baum's hands and the Highland Park double team wasn't an issue.

"I'm not used to being double teamed," Baum said. "I've never been the go-to guy. We've always had great senior leaders, and I wasn't the one double teamed. The Scout team did a good job in practice of putting two guys on me when I got the ball."

Baum drew a foul and made both free throws to give Deerfield a 38-36 lead with 54 seconds left.

Two possessions later, Jeremy Sernick's free throw gave Deerfield a 39-36 edge before Highland Park's Ziv Tal cut the lead to 39-38 with 11 seconds left. Baum was fouled with 4.2 seconds remaining and made both foul shots to secure the win.

"He's been doing that for us all year," McKendrick said. "Every time we need him, he's there."

A version of this article appeared in print on December 24, 2015, in the Deerfield Review section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Casieri's `gym rat' routine pays off" —
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